Course Title: Rebuilding Lives: Advocacy, Community, and Empowerment (Online)

Course Description:
This fully online course introduces participants to the Rebuilding Lives Initiative, emphasizing effective advocacy, community building, and engagement with local government through interactive online activities, multimedia content, and structured online discussions. Participants will gain practical skills for compelling communication using ethos, pathos, and logos, actively engage their communities, and support youth empowerment.

Course Objectives:

  • Apply effective advocacy strategies using ethos, pathos, and logos online.
  • Implement virtual community-building techniques.
  • Engage effectively with local government via digital platforms.
  • Understand and utilize virtual community spaces and social enterprises to empower youth.

Needs Assessment and E-Learning Project Proposal

Introduction: In many communities, members lack essential knowledge to effectively advocate and communicate their concerns, particularly through digital platforms. This knowledge gap hinders community engagement, weakens resource allocation, and reduces the potential effectiveness of local governance. The proposed instructional solution is designed to bridge this gap, increasing participants’ knowledge of advocacy strategies and resulting in enhanced community involvement, improved performance, better resource utilization, and greater efficiency in addressing local issues.

Identification of the Problem: The identified learning opportunity is a significant lack of understanding among community members regarding how to effectively develop and communicate persuasive advocacy messages online. This issue is particularly critical as effective advocacy is foundational for successful community engagement and governance.

Intended Audience: The primary audience includes approximately 30 adult learners aged 20-60. Key learner characteristics and implications for instructional design include:

  • Diverse technological proficiency levels, necessitating accessible and user-friendly course design.
  • Varied cultural and educational backgrounds, requiring culturally inclusive and clear content.
  • Differing levels of prior advocacy experience, implying a need for differentiated instructional strategies. Diversity considerations are thoroughly addressed to ensure inclusivity and engagement.

Learning Context: The course is fully online, accessible from learners’ homes or any internet-enabled device, providing flexibility and convenience. The learning context emphasizes ease of access, minimal technical requirements, and support resources to accommodate learners’ diverse technology capabilities and potential constraints such as inconsistent internet connectivity or limited device availability.

Description of the Proposed Solution: The e-learning solution is a concise, interactive, self-paced online course, available anytime, anywhere. The final product will feature multimedia content, interactive scenarios, knowledge checks, and reflective activities. Four specific learning outcomes include:

  • Clearly articulate and apply ethos, pathos, and logos in digital advocacy contexts, answering the “why does this matter?” question for practical advocacy effectiveness.
  • Identify and use virtual community-building techniques to foster genuine engagement, addressing the importance of inclusive community interactions.
  • Develop and implement digital strategies for productive engagement with local government officials, directly translating online advocacy efforts into tangible community improvements.
  • Design realistic, actionable youth empowerment plans using virtual and social enterprise models, providing practical methods for supporting youth and reducing social unrest.

Project Timeline:

  • Week 2: July 4 – July 6
  • June 20: Initial stakeholder meeting & detailed needs analysis
  • July 3-4: Define key instructional goals and learning objectives
    Submit Part 1: Needs Assessment (Due July 6)
  • Week 3: July 7 – July 13
  • July 7-9: Develop detailed course blueprint and outline
  • July 10: Stakeholder review and approval of blueprint
  • July 11-13: Develop initial multimedia content
    Submit Part 2: Design Blueprint (Due July 13)
  • Week 4: July 14 – July 20
  • July 14-17: Develop User Interface and onboarding materials
  • July 18-19: Internal usability testing and refinement
  • July 20: Stakeholder check-in to review progress
  • Week 5: July 21 – July 27
  • July 21-24: Finalize course content and interface design based on feedback
  • July 25-26: Conduct final usability testing
  • July 27: Prepare finalized User Interface for submission
    Submit Part 3: User Interface (Due July 27)
  • Week 6: July 28 – August 3
  • July 28-30: Launch pilot implementation with selected learners
  • July 31-August 2: Gather pilot feedback and document insights
  • August 3: Analyze feedback and identify final improvements
  • Week 7: August 4 – August 10
  • August 4-6: Final revisions based on pilot insights
  • August 7-8: Conduct final quality checks
  • August 9: Official launch and course availability announcement
  • August 10: Final project submission
    Submit Part 4: Implementing E-Learning Solution (Due August 10)

Summary: The needs analysis clearly demonstrates the necessity for structured online advocacy training. The next phase involves comprehensive digital course design, iterative stakeholder feedback, and detailed pilot testing, ensuring the final instructional solution effectively addresses identified knowledge gaps and learner needs.